"M- Madam..." Lara managed to croak. She hurriedly wiped some of her tears away.

Elena was wearing her usual long, flowy gown. Her platinum blonde hair spilled down over her shoulders, back and chest like gentle waves of waterfall. Sitting on her head was a gold tiara molded into a shape resembling that of a flower crown. Shiny diamonds lined the tiara, while a bright green gem stood out in the middle, matching her beautiful emerald eyes. As Lara entered the room haphazardly, Elena gave her the usual serene smile she always wore.

"Hello, Lara, thought I'd find you here."

"Y- Yes!" Lara blurted, standing up so straight that she almost fell forward. "I'm- I'm training hard, per your request, Madam."

"I know, and I appreciate you for that." Elena strolled towards her with her hands clasped behind her back, a small smile never leaving her face. "Lara, my dear, you're turning eighteen really soon, right?"

"In- in a week."

Elena nodded, and then placed a hand on Lara's cheek. "Well then, I think it must be time," she whispered. "Time for you to get a Gift."

Lara was so stunned by this information that she suddenly forgot how to breathe. "A... A Gift? Madam, do you... do you really mean that?"

"Why, yes, of course." The green hues of Elena's eyes seemed to shimmer with amusement.

It took a while for Lara to fully comprehend the weight of that information. She did it, she actually did it... After years of hard work, she's finally getting a Gift. She took in a deep, shaky breath, before running towards the First Lady and hugging her tightly by the waist.

"Thank you, Madam, thank you so, so much! I've been waiting my whole life for this!" she cried.

"I know, I know." Elena held Lara up gently. "And I'm really sorry for making you wait so long for it. I was hoping to wait till you're a little bit older, you know? I don't want to send you out to missions before you become an adult."

"Madam, you were... just waiting for me to turn eighteen...?" Lara asked.

Elena chuckled and cupped Lara's face. "Yes, my dear. Remember what I told you before? You were born under a very special star, and therefore you are special to me. After getting your Gift, will you be my most loyal and bestest Operative?"

Lara knew that it was part of Elena's Gift that made people around her flutter with happiness, but at that moment, she was truly, truly happy. "Yes, I will, Madam," she declared. "I will be the one who will end all Turned Realms." A thought occurred to her, and she added, "But Ryan had a Gift even before he was eighteen." In fact, for as long as she could remember, Ryan always seemed to possess a Gift.

"Ah yes, Ryan's Gift is..." Elena's eyelashes quivered slightly. "A mistake."

A mistake? Lara almost laughed out loud. This was definitely something she could rub into that smug face of Ryan's the next time she sees him. "Can't you take it away from him?" Lara asked. After all, the First Lady had the ability to both grant Gifts and also take them away.

"He's been proving useful so far, so I'll let him keep his little Gift." Elena's smile faded away. "Lara, are you getting close to him?"

"Argh, hell no." Lara stuck out her tongue almost instinctively. "He's super annoying, and really mean to me, and he's always saying terrible things about-" The rest of the sentence got stuck in her throat.

Elena shot Lara an icy look. "About me?"

Lara instantly regretted what she blurted out. No matter how much she hated Ryan, she didn't really want him to get into trouble with the First Lady. "N... No, no!" she stammered. "He doesn't really say anything terrible about you, at most he'll... he'll just laugh at me a lot when I... when I praise you."

The anger in the First Lady subsided. "I know I can always count on you, Lara," she said, her smile returning to her face. "See you on your birthday for your birthday Gift, alright?"

"Y- Yes! Thank you, Madam!" With that, Lara rushed to open the door for the First Lady. To her surprise, the door swung open to reveal a sheepish-looking Ryan standing outside the training room.

"Ryan?" Lara was taken aback. The Operative never trained, ever, so why was he here?

"Hey, baby Lara," he greeted. His cheery smirk vanished when he noticed Elena standing behind Lara.

"Ryan." Elena peered at the man coolly. "May I know what you are doing here?"

Ryan returned Elena's gaze with an unwavering glare. "To train," he answered sharply. Ryan was possibly the only person in the entire universe —other than the people in the Turned Realms, of course— who dared to treat the First Lady with such an attitude.

Elena pursed her lips. "Tell the truth, Ryan." These words seemed to reverberate inside Lara's brain, sending chills down her spine. Madam's voice was like an echo of cold, dark energy coated with a layer of ice shards; this was the First Gift, and it was in its full effect.

Lara shuddered, and her eyes darted back to the Operative worriedly. She had never experienced the First Gift for real before, but she had seen it in effect a few times in her life. This would not turn out well...

The tall man's body tensed up. "I'm... I'm here to see Lara," he muttered through grinding teeth.

"What for?"

"To... apologize..."

Lara almost let out a sob. Ryan would have never admitted something like that, if not for the First Lady's Gift.

"Well, you shouldn't disturb her," Elena continued. "If you are here, you should train."

"Yes, Madam."

"And don't leave this room until you pass the intermediate level."

Ryan's eyes widened. For a millisecond, Lara could see fear flashe across his brown eyes. "...Y- Yes, Madam," he mumbled.

"Good." The First Lady gave him a satisfied smile before finally leaving the training room.

With only the two of them left, the square, metallic room became eerily quiet, and somehow even colder than normal. The paper targets lined along the end of the shooting range felt as though they were gawking at the two humans, especially at Ryan's misfortune.

Lara watched in exasperation as Ryan trudged towards the shooting range and activated the intermediate mode. She knew that the power of the First Gift was unrivaled, and so Ryan had to listen to Madam's orders no matter what. But there was no way Ryan could ever pass the intermediate level; he could barely even pass the beginner level!

"Do you... do you want me to help you with that?" Lara asked hesitantly.

"What, do you want to get punished too?" Ryan said without turning back to look at her. His demeanor was drastically different from just a minute ago at the cafeteria.

"N- No..." Lara sighed and folded her arms. "But you know, if you are just a tad bit more respectful to Madam, she won't do this to you. I've also made mistakes, or accidentally lied to her, but she has never punished me like this before."

Ryan didn't reply. He focused on setting up his pistol.

Lara was not used to the lack of retort or snide comment, and so she continued babbling, "I don't know why you always insist on being so disrespectful to her. She's the First Lady, you know, she deserves some respect. Without her, there wouldn't be any Gifts, and we'd still be stuck in the Grand War, where every realm is fighting and tearing one another apart. She's basically our savior."

Ryan didn't reply again. The training started, and the targets started to bounce all around the shooting range. Ryan took aim and shot. He missed every single one of them.

"I'm sorry, but you've failed intermediate mode, Ryan Carland." The words floated in front of Ryan, as if mocking him. "Your result is: 9.3%."

Lara snorted. "Wow, you really suck. You know, Madam just told me that your Gift was a mistake, and it makes so much sense now. I can't see how you can ever qualify for a Gift with skills like these."

Ryan glanced at Lara. "At least I have one and you don't."

Normally, this would have absolutely crushed Lara. Instead, Lara puffed her chest out proudly. "I'll have you know that I'm getting a Gift on my birthday."

"Oh." That seemed to have finally gotten Ryan's attention. "Congratulations," he said as he put down his pistol and stared at Lara with a very strange expression. Was it anger? Fear? Or maybe envy?

Lara took the chance to brag more. "Yeah, and I bet my Gift is going to be a thousand times better than yours. Apparently, I'm born under some kind of special star or something. I bet this means that my Gift is going to be super strong and super cool, unlike you and your lame teleportation Gift."

Ryan's eyes were still boring into Lara curiously. "Well, I don't doubt that," he admitted. "Looking forward to it."

"Wait, you are?" Lara frowned. Ryan was seriously acting very strange; she was expecting way more snarky remarks from him. Maybe Elena's Gift had been preventing him from saying them, somehow.

Ryan nodded gravely, and then turned his attention back to the shooting range. Once again, Lara watched helplessly as he missed every single target in his next round.